I just received my 'baby' today. I'm VERY impressed! I'm sure some of the expensive prosumer cameras can top it, but it's the best camcorder I've ever owned in the consumer/midrange arena! I've only used it on full auto so far.
The colors in the recorded footage filmed in sunlight are nicely saturated, lifelike and vivid. The image stabilization even while zooming is highly effective in all directions. The intelligent zoom image is indistinguishable from the optical portion of the zoom. (I viewed on a 47" Bravia TV)
The camera is very light, but feels solid, all buttons and controls have a firm feel to them.
I was able to shoot great indoor footage with shades drawn, and no lights on! The color was still accurate if a little muted, and there was a little graininess, but that's to be expected. The low-light image had no excessive noise, no strange orange cast, or washed out cast like my Sony and Sanyo used to produce! With just a little help, such as a 150 watt bulb the indoor picture becomes amazing compared to my older cameras.
Photographs are OK for a camcorder, but if you've been using high MP images or DSLR, then they are NOT impressive as they are only 6MP.
This version of the Camera only has the one slot, so a decent size SD(HC/XC) card is needed so that you don't fill it up too quickly.
If you want a camera that produces superb video without any effort, and can produce great footage in less than ideal lighting, the V700K is a great buy and lives up to its own marketing hype which is rare.
Pros:
* Allows in-camera editing of AVCHD clips
* Auto lens cover
* Low Light performance is amazing
* Can be used while plugged into AC Power
* Image Stabilization(5 axis)actually STABILIZES the IMAGE, unlike my last 2 cameras!
* Wide-Angle 28mm lens gets more of a scene without moving farther back from subject
Cons:
* Included standard battery is only average stamina
* The LCD is very hard to see in sunlight (Forcing me to order an LCD Hood)
* Filming a quiet scene I was able to hear zoom lens moving(I did NOT hear fan noise)
* If you intend to use this outdoors, an LCD shade is a MUST.. I found LCD Hood for Canon DSLR by Cowboystudio to be inexpensive, and effective.
4/15 Edit: I have uploaded some rudimentary sample vids to youtube, search for V700K or BitingCommentator.
I added some comments about the Audio, in the comments area.
I have uploaded images of the camera with the LCD shade in operation, and showing the Built-In Lens Cover, hope all this is helpful for you!
Uploaded a low light clip from the Auto Museum to my YouTube channel.
UPDATE 5/15/12
After one month I'm still happy, but I did witness the Auto White Balance adjustment delay during filming. 2 commenters mentioned this, but until now I never saw it. I'll try to explain what seemed to trigger the issue. On both occasions I was filming indoors, and my subject matter/lighting source changed drastically each time with large areas of white in the image. Each time, the camera took about 3-4 seconds to recalibrate and correct the setting, and in each case the end result was correct and stable.
1st occurrence was camera sitting on my white gas range, which took up most of the image (daytime, but dark room; warm colors). I moved the camera and aimed at the window with BRIGHT sunlight, & lots of green plants, the image first appeared with a blue cast, then Auto White Balance was able to find an appropriate setting to match the sunlight. 2nd occurrence was shooting against white bed linens under very bright, very cool temperature ALZO lights -ALZO Photo Light Bulb Pack of 4 CFL 45 watt Daylight balanced 5500K pure white light 2800 Lumens. (Excellent light source, use with a Y adapter socket for bright clean light!) I zoomed in until my girlfriend's skin-very tan/bronze filled the viewfinder, and when I zoomed back out, the entire image got a blue cast as the white (re)filled the majority of the image. The Auto White Balance again took about 4 seconds, (which feels like forever) to get itself to back to optimal settings, and stayed there.
My personal verdict on the Auto White Balance is that since it never drifted once it recalibrated itself, and since the Balance settings it chose were spot on, I'm still happy with the camera, and still rate it highly. Also affecting my verdict is that on my other inexpensive cameras Sanyo VPC-GH2, Canon S80, Sony HC45-when the white balance was wrong or changedthe cameras NEVER self-corrected, the rest of that video clip would be off!
Of course it's frustrating that the V700 sometimes doesn't adjust instantaneously; 3-5 seconds can be a long time if every second of your footage is vitally important, or you do not have video editing software.
But there is an easy fix which is switch to manual, set the white balance with a piece of white paper or white object, and then switch back to Full Auto. The setting will be stored, and then the camera won't have to do any 'thinking' about it. As usual hope this helps.
(BTW, what gives with the $40-$50 Price Swings from day to day, Amazon?)
0 comments:
Post a Comment